The Book

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” — 2 Timothy 3:16-17

As a former technologist, I love leading-edge technology. I was one of the first to own an iPhone in 2007, and have upgraded my smartphone almost every year. Not only has my phone gotten bigger, brighter, and faster, its usefulness has increased a hundredfold. We are using technology in our services, where the projector has replaced the hymnals, freeing up our hands so that we can raise and clap our hands while we praise our God. As a pastor and worship leader, I am grateful for this technological advancement. Within the past few years, there as been another change introduced by technology in the church. It is the usage of bible apps. I have to admit, it is convenient to have the entire bible, in many different versions, loaded on my smartphone and computer. So, as a technology geek I should be happy with this new trend, however, I am not. I am not suggesting that we abandon our bible apps, however, I want to appeal to you that our bible apps should not be our default  bible (pun intended). There are many reasons, but here are my top three: 

1. It is not personal - in my opinion, digital books lack emotion. Although I feel attached to my physical devices, I do not feel attached to the apps installed on the phone. My old hardcopy bible with highlights and coffee stains is so precious to me, like a comfortable pair of worn jeans. 
2. We can’t take notes or highlight passages - we are not able to write in our digital bibles. Yes, digital bibles have highlighting options, but it’s just not the same. And, let’s not get started with note taking.
3. We are forced to read sequentially - digital bibles were not designed so that we can jump between books. It’s takes too many steps to look up various passages. 

Brothers and sisters, as we gather together to worship this morning, let us use the pew bibles the church has available for you. If you need one, you may keep a copy and write your name in it. Let us go old-school with our bibles.